The mare in the moon gazed menacingly from her high perch in the night sky. Eyes illuminated like dying stars, she silently watched a navy blue stallion galloping through the black forest. The unreal trees shivered like shadows as he galloped hard through the tall blades of grass. His adrenaline-fueled heart pounded ferally in his trim chest, and his lungs felt like a snake was sadistically squeezing the priceless air out of them. Clouds of fog thick as wool descended upon the frightened stallion’s path. Ferocious howls and demonic barks echoed from behind, signaling they had caught up to their prey. Hopelessness weighed heavy on the navy stallion’s heart, as all he could do was keep his dull, yellow eyes focused on the invisible path ahead.
Disembodied voices camouflaged by the surreal forest whispered taunts and insults from the
bushes and trees, blaming him for past misfortunes that befell their lives. Each hate-filled word pierced through him worse than the sharpest blade, as the ghostly voices recounted past failures and goaded at hidden fears. The stallion’s gallop slowed to a trot as an invisible hoof placed enormous weight on his sturdy shoulders. The primordial howls grew closer, smelling the weakness of their prey. The weight too much for him to bare, the stallion fell on his heavily on his knees. He solemnly looked upon the mare in the moon, whom watched without a word.
Her eyes shifted quickly and cast an eerie glow somewhere ahead of the paralyzed stallion. Frantic screams cut through the fowl whispers, bring silence to their cruelty. The stallion’s ears perked at the familiar wailing, but he couldn’t remember who the screams belonged too. Freed from the whisper’s spell, he rose to his hooves and galloped with full vigor to where the bodiless screams were originating from. His instincts pleading to run away from the shrill sound, he continued forward with the guidance of an unseen power.
The presence of the darkened woods began to wane; trees and shrubbery replaced by blackened soil and blood red roses. Crimson liquid leaked languidly from the wilted petals, soaking the ground with their endless tears. The white stallion’s hooves stopped dead at the edge of the clearing. A hooded figure sat in the middle of the menacing meadow, ceasing her cries to look upon the weary stallion curiously staring back. It slowly tilted its head, confused by the new presence. The stallion felt the cloaked figure’s stares prodding at his very soul. The being raised it head and whispered two simple words with a malice that would make death himself whimper in despair. Starshine Glint.
The stallion felt his blood turn to ice as his name left the demon’s lips. “Who are you?” Starshine asked in disbelief. The shadowy figure ignored his question, continuing to whisper his name over and over. Glint felt the fear inside him boil into burning rage. Ashy dust sprayed into the air as he defiantly stomped his hoof on the hardened soil. Tell me now!” he commanded. The figure just tilted its head again and continued hauntingly whispering his name. Feeling the anger simmering in his chest, he lifted his hoof to take a step forward, but it refused to raise more than a few inches off the ground. He looked down to investigate what otherworldly force was inhibiting his bold advance, only to discover a horrifying revelation. The blood soaked flowers had wrapped their fleshy vines around his hooves, immobilizing him. He kicked and flailed desperately, trying to free himself from the hellish flowers, but they only tightened their grasp.
The figure stood up and crept slowly towards the helpless pony. He bent down and bit deep savagely into the plant. Dark liquid seeped from the vine’s wounds and into the navy stallion’s mouth, making him gag at its copper taste. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and he fought with all his might, but it was no use. The evil plant had him immobilized and completely at the mercy of the whispering apparition. The figure’s whispers became piercing moans, eerily chanting his name over and over. The gap separating the white stallion from the menacing foe waned with each passing second. Starshine stopped resisting the flowers and placed his hind leg back defensively. Starshine Glint could smell the decay on the demon’s breath, as it stopped hoof’s length away from him.
The figure stopped chanting its eerie mantra and reared up on its hind legs, standing at least twice the length of a fully grown grizzly bear. Saliva dripping fangs flashed from its mouth, and its slender hooves became sharpened claws. It let out a feral roar and lunged at the helpless stallion. Closing his eyes, he braced himself for the brutal onslaught. He felt the creatures razor sharp claws render the flesh across his chest. Warm, sticky liquid oozed from the jagged wound, staining his navy coat with splashes of crimson. He began coughing and choking as the air escaped from his ragged flesh. He fell to the ground and stared up at the hulking shadow. It let loose one final roar before descending upon the dying pony. It sank its cold fangs deep into Starshine’s exposed neck. Glint forced one last scream, waking himself from his restless slumber.
Starshine Glint shot upright from the torn cloth and scattered straw that he called his bed. His chest heaved and he coughed relentlessly, attempting to regain his lost breath. He felt his stomach turn as thick, green bile spewed from his mouth and splattered onto the battered floor. He wiped the remains of the gross liquid from his muzzle and gazed into the broken mirror in the far corner of the room. Beads of sweat fell from his brow, shattering on the rotted floor of the abandoned cottage. He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head side-to-side, attempting to soothe the pain that plagued his throbbing head. Once he regained his composure, he reached into his worn saddle bag and pulled out a dented silver flask. Casually popping open the seal, he took a long swig of its pungent contents. The warm liquid burned his throat as it eased his stomach. Satisfied, Glint pulled the flask from his mouth and wiped away the brownish remains with his free hoof. He reunited the cap with the flask and placed it back in his saddlebag.
Specks of the morning sunlight broke through the holes in the walls and brightened the room with a soft light. Starshine Glint rose from his bed and stretched his stiff back until it responded with a muffled crack. He meandered sleepily to vanity, focusing on the remaining shard of the broken mirror. An earth pony with an electric blue mane and bloodshot eyes glared back from the shattered world. Dark green grime infected from his spiky, blue mane. He attempted to wipe the stubborn dirt away, but it With some trouble, he adjusted the rusted buckle keeping his leather armor in place. “Not military standards,” he observed morbidly. “Then again, what does it matter anymore?”
The veteran stallion bent over and pulled on the straps of his worn leather bracers until they could scarcely move. Makeshift armor in place, he carefully grasped his resting sword and pulled it from its shredded sheath. Metal and leather sang a harsh melody as he pulled on the faded gold hilt. Specks of sunlight reflected off the azure steel of the chipped blade, creating a dazzling display of colored lights in the morbid atmosphere. Glint turned the sword casually in his hoof, inspecting the glyphs etched deep on the blade. “Even magic cannot impede the quest for justice,” he read with little emotion. He slid the blade back into its home and clipped it to his belt. “Justice? Haven’t seen it yet.”
Hoisting his saddlebag onto his back, he heaved a heavy sigh and made for the door. He pulled on the rusty iron handle, and the aged hinges answered back with an uneasy screech. Starshine stepped outside on the cracked roads of the unknown farm town. The sun had yet to fully rise from its nightly slumber. Orange and yellow rays cast a dull light off the shards of broken windows scattered across the street, bathing the broken street in fleeting beauty. “Why couldn’t she be the one to get captured,” he seethed. Hay and broken carts littered the cobbled roads and gardens of the nameless town. Rats scattered from the rotted food in old market stalls that filtered the air with cow dung. The houses lay bare of the loving families and their undying love for one another, leaving empty shells of a long forgotten past. Sun bleached bones decorated the town as a reminder of the slaughter that halted its future.
Glint cautiously scanned the roads for visible threats. His ears flicked and twisted in an attempt to detect fiendish sounds from potential dangers and misfortunes. Satisfied, he began journeying out into the broken corpse of the beautiful land he used to protect. He reminisced silently on the battle that was waged from where he stood. Flashbacks from a past long forgotten plagued the mind of the veteran earth pony. Mares and fillies being dragged away by pointed fang and reddened claws. Soldiers on the brink of death silently praying for help from a God that never came.
The veteran pony could still feel the hoof of his top lieutenant clinging to his cracked breastplate. His life force slowly being drained from the gaping hole in his slashed chest. The lieutenant coughed blackened specks, pleading for the pain to end. Starshine, being the closest to him, granted his wish with a quick stab into the barely beating heart of his fallen comrade.
“It would have been different if….” Glass breaking from a dark alleyway brought the white stallion out of his dark reverie. His hoof fell on his sword and he half drew it with a small screech, like a viper readying itself to strike. His ears focused on where the sound originated from, somewhere beyond the alley between the boarded up bake shop and a greenhouse full of wilted flowers. He listened deeply, drowning out with a hardened focus. His heart thumped within his chest, each like a hammer beating against the trunk of a fallen tree.
Minutes passed before he slowly pushed his weapon back into place. He turned away from the alley walked away. Screeching like claws on a chalkboard made Glint turn back to face the alley, only to be met with a large object sailing towards him. With the agility of a tiger, he deftly leapt out of its way. The veteran landed on piece of debris and a cry of agony surged up his leg. As the object, hit the ground and exploded into tiny wooden fragments, two shadowy figures jumped from the rooftop of the bakery. Starshine Glint strafed to the left to avoid the assailant’s attack, grazing his side against a crooked nail protruding from a damaged cart.
Warm liquid snaked down from the grisly wound on his hind leg. Taking advantage of his targets apparent weakness, the second assailant soared into the air and dived at the injured stallion.. Starshine rolled deftly to the side, barely avoiding a swipe from the attacker’s talons. The first attacker shifted to Glint’s blindside and charged towards the navy blue stallion. Putting all his weight on his good leg, Starshine turned and blindly punched the air in a desperate attempt to gain some ground. He sneered victoriously, as he felt his hoof make contact with the muzzle of a scrappy pony.
The pony rolled backwards and smashed into one of the rotting market stalls. The other attacker hovered in the air, shocked at the fate of his friend and giving Starshine the opening he needed. Glint unsheathed his sword and slashed upwards at the floating attacker. The azure blade sliced the air above the thug’s head, missing his scalp by mere centimeters. With the reflexes of a hardened veteran, he twisted his hoof and brought the dull hilt of his sword upon the brute’s exposed head. The winged attacker froze for a second, and then crumpled to the ground in a feathery heap.
“Enough!” a female voices ordered from the alley. A magenta unicorn emerged defiantly from the cover of darkness to confront the sweaty veteran. Half her mane was shaved, leaving small pinprick hairs dotting her head.. The other half hung long over her face, covering one of her icy blue eyes. She was lean for her size, but Glint could see a fire was burning hungrily inside this foe that shouldn’t be underestimated. “Listen twinkle hooves,” she said smugly. She motioned towards the two attackers with a curt wave “It really isn’t smart ta go around and bruise my partners.”
The pony Glint sent into the stall reached for a low hanging branch and attempted to pull himself out from the wreckage. His black coat was mangy and missing in random, leaving bare pink flesh around his otherwise muscular body. He reached under his green hat and rubbed his bald head soothingly. The branch cracked and broke from the little tree, sending him crashing back into the splintery debris, groaning in pain. The other thug, a griffon with talons made from steel, lay motionless at Starshine’s hooves. The veteran shrugged back at the female leader. “It also isn’t nice to try and rob a pony with a hangover,” he replied angrily. “So…miss?”
“Call me Silhouette.”
“Okay. Miss Shithead, why don’t you kindly step aside so I can get on with my morning walk?”
The unicorn put her hoof over her mouth in mock shame. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she taunted. “I didn’t realize twinkle hooves here was having such a bad day.” She lowered her hoof back to the ground, revealing a sheepish smile. “Of course we will let ya go…after ya hand over your saddlebag and that flashy sword you got there.”
“And if I refuse?”
She placed her hoof on her chin and looked at the sky. “Well…that would make my associate here pretty mad.”
Glint tensed. “I’m shakin. If your “associate” is anything like these two knuckleheads, I’m pretty sure I’ll manage.”
The magenta unicorn smirked knowingly. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She turned and gestured to a figure hiding in the shadows. The earth trembled as the figure stepped out of his hiding place. Glint’s eyes widened at the sight of the hulking mass plodding its way towards him. The slobbering dog stopped close behind the smiling unicorn. “Eva hear of the Diamond Dogs?” she asked. “In Stalliongrad, the czar liked to capture and perform experiments on them. Something bout trying ta make an obedient army of super dogs ta defend against invading forces.” She gestured to the slobbering mongrel showily and continued smugly, “My boy Brutus here was one of them. This guy could smash through the walls of Canterlot Castle if he wanted ta.”
The towering beast stared down at the veteran with beady eyes. “This tiny pony giving boss lady trouble?”
“I wouldn’t say trouble, my hungry friend. I’d say he’s more like an insignificant pest that needs taught a lesson. Could ya please break his pretty neck for me?”
“Dah,” he agreed. “I break puny pony.” The muscular mutation tensed; his body rippling with pure muscle. A sickening crack echoed from his neck as he shifted his head side-to-side. “Ready for the pain?” he asked the veteran.
Starshine Glint slid his hind leg back, placing all his weight on it. He tightened his grip on the tarnished hilt of his blade and proceeded to crack his own neck. “I’ve had watered down cider with more bite than you,” he replied coyly.
The Diamond Dog’s eye twitched. He opened his gaping maw and bellowed a primal roar. With the force of a speeding train, the Russian monster charged towards his awaiting prey. Starshine leapt to the sky and slashed towards the mongrel. Quick as a whip, the dog shifted to the left, the tips of his fur shaved by the glancing blow, and grabbed the airborne pony by his hooves. He twisted the pony and slammed him into the dusty earth. Air was forcefully pushed from his lungs as he felt his ribs crack.
The mutt sneered sadistically and threw the pony straight into the wall of a broken house, and the veteran flew threw it like it was made of paper. The white stallion rolled on the splintery ground and crashed into the wooden remains of a maple end table. He rocked slowly on his back and stared blankly at a brass chandelier swaying on a rusty chain. Glint, his vision spinning, dizzily brought himself to his hooves. “Alright,” he whispered to himself, “Time to teach this dog how to play dead.” As the words left the stallion’ s cracked lips, Brutus jumped into the house, ready to continue his relentless assault on the injured pony.
The hulking mass of moving muscle bellowed loudly as he bounded towards the stalwart stallion. Glint closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the charging brute mere seconds from being on top of him. Glint could smell the dog’s sewer breath, and he took that as his cue. His eyes snapped open and, before Brutus got his paws on him, leapt into the air. With the precision of a trained swordsman, the veteran slashed the chain that was barely holding the chandelier in place. Gravity took hold of the twisted metal light source and pulled it towards the ground.
Starshine landed on the beast’s back and swung the chain around its muscular neck like a leash. The dog howled and bucked the veteran from his back. Glint flipped around and agilely landed on his hooves. The dog, his eyes filled with rage, bounded towards the pony. The chandelier, now attached to the massive brute, dug itself into the floor anchored the beast to the ground. Glint took his opportunity and let loose a flurry of successive strikes. His blade left a blue hue in the air as each swing cut deep into muscle and bone. Helpless, the diamond dog did all he could to block the veteran’s assault with his iron forearms.
With a feat of great strength, Brutus grabbed the tether and pulled it from the ground. Now armed, the slobbering dog launched the mass of brass at his tenacious foe. Glint sidestepped the weapon and jumped out of the house, waving cockily at Brutus. The dog stared confusedly back, not sure what the gesture meant. Then, the house groaned painfully. The dog looked around and his eyes widened in terror. The fight between the two strong warriors had weakened the structure even more. The support beams cracked and splintered as the weight of the roof collapsed. The dog let out one last feeble roar before stone and wood buried the poor soul in the skeleton of the once proud home.
Glint chuckled and brushed a patch of drool off his shoulder. Silhouette, whom was watching from a safe distance, shook her head in disbelief. “He was my best brawler!” she screamed.
Starshine turned and stared back with his cold, yellow eyes. “I don’t know about brawlin,” he retorted, “But he’s pretty good at playin dead.” The stallion quickly turned to look back at a noise coming from the remains of the house. The wreckage was shaking as violently as a cage of a trapped bear. Suddenly, the pile of masonry erupted outward, revealing a battered diamond dog. Brutus, his breathing fast, took two steps towards the veteran before crumpling to the ground in a heap of muscle and slobber.
“Good boy,” stated Starshine sarcastically before returning his attention to the awestruck unicorn. “Now,” he said while shaking the dirt off his blade, “Would you kindly let me pass, or are you gonna try and stop me?”
The magenta unicorn turned her head slowly, examining the state of each of her lackeys. The bald pony had recovered from his beating and was standing in a puddle that hadn’t been there before. Her griffin friend, barely conscious, was ogling at the morning sky. Her icy gaze falling upon the smiling veteran, she stated, “Get outta my site before I lose my temper,”
Starshine laughed and sheathed his sword triumphantly. “Next time you kids to play gang, you should try holding up a nursery. I hear kids are terrified of clowns.”
“A clown. You know? Floppy shoes…red noses…small brains. Ringin any bells?.”
“That’s it! I’m going to enjoy watching ya squirm!” she yelled, reaching for one of the kunai strapped to her hind leg. Grasping the smooth instrument of death, she skillfully twirled it in her hoof and threw it at the laughing stallion.
Glint flicked his shoulder into the blade and allowed the small object implant itself in his thick armor. “Watch it!,” he exclaimed. “You could poke somepony’s eye out with those.”
“Funny,” she retorted, “I was thinking the same thing.” She sprinted to the cover of a small enclosed garden, continuing to throw sharp kunai at Starshine. Glint drew his sword and quickly deflected the metal weapons, each clanging off the sparkling blade. He galloped swiftly to a wilting tree surrounded by a rotted picket fence. He dove behind the slowly dying tree, hearing two successive thumps as the unicorn’s kunai embedded themselves in its cracked trunk.
“How many knives does she have?” he asked himself wearily. He slowly peeked around the tree trunk, only to instantaneously pull his head back into cover, as three more of the deadly weapons flew into the ground inches from his position. He sighed, “I can’t get close enough to stop her. How am I….” His sentence trailed off as he noticed a bell hanging lazily above the abandoned bake shop. He stared at the silver instrument for a second, and then looked at the kunai that was still implanted in his shoulder armor. “That could work,” he whispered. He locked his hoof around the weapon's handle and slowly ripped it out of its new found home. He carefully aimed for the dangling instrument. “Please let this work,” he prayed as he let loose the small weapon. The metal weapon sliced through the air with ease as it headed for his only hope of defeating the tenacious unicorn. It struck the bell and, unfortunately, tore through the silver instrument without as much as a whisper.
“Just my luck,” he stated bitterly. A puzzled expression formed on his hardened face as he noticed the kunai assault had stopped. He dared to look from behind the safety of the wilted tree, spotting no sign of Silhouette. Suddenly, the shadow of the tree bent upwards and ensnared the stallion’s throat, squeezing the air from his lungs. He tried to loosen the malicious shadow’s grip, but to no avail as his hooves helplessly passed through the shade. The magenta unicorn, whom was watching from her vantage point on the tree, jumped and landed softly on the ground.
“What’s the matter?” she asked mockingly. “Nothing clever to say?” Starshine Glint stared determinedly back at her as his lungs cried for air. “Whoops,” she continued, scratching her head. “Did I forget to mention I can control shadows? My bad. I would have told you sooner, then again, that wouldn’t be much of a surprise would it?”
Starshine could feel his conscious slipping. Have to do something, he thought as he desperately looked for his sword. He found it barely in hoof’s reach of where he was sitting. Glint reached out desperately trying to reclaim his azure weapon. Feeling the warm hilt of his faithful blade, he used what was left of his waning strength to focus. His eyes darted wildly until the fell upon a wispy line of magenta. In one last attempt to free himself from the shadow’s grasp, he slashed at the waving line, cutting it in two. The spectral apparition wavered for a minute, then drowsily sank back into the shadow of the tree. The white veteran gasped greedily for air before galloping furiously at Silhouette. Awestruck by what she saw, she failed to notice the stampeding earth pony until he was right on top of her. Unable to react, she felt a hard object strike her in the head.
She stumbled momentarily before gracefully falling to the ground. She sluggishly caught herself on the picket fence, feeling a sharp pain etching itself along her exposed side. “How…how did you?” she tried to ask.
“Did I forget to mention I can see magical auras?” he said, mocking her past gloating. “Sorry…didn’t what to ruin the surprise.”
“But…but you can’t…cut through…through it. It’s…impossible.”
He held up his sword and waved it insultingly. “See this sword? It’s made of a rare metal called magus ore. It can sever the connection between the aura and whatever is producing it.” He slid the sword into the sheath hanging limply from his belt. “Maybe if you stayed in school, you would have learned about it.” Silhouette grunted weakly, then crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Starshine Glint shook his head in disappointment and turned to leave the ghost town. The griffon and the bald stallion watched fearfully as the white stallion strode past them without so much as a glance. He trotted past the still unconscious diamond dog, which was snoring loudly in his forced nap. The broken, stone road soon turned to dried dirt and patchy grass as he left the town behind. Stopping momentarily to look back at the town, he bowed his head respectfully in memory of the ponies that once lived there. The quiet town, as if it was alive in its own right, seemed to wave goodbye to its temporary resident. Glint then rose his head and continued walking down the lonesome road, hoping that the next town would hold answers to the questions that haunted his existence in the desolate world he called home.
